From the Closet Walls
by abba2zabba15
Summary: Brittany/Santana. Slight AU. "I love her to death. I love her more than I've ever loved anyone else in this world. But it's just not enough. I can't hide anymore. I can't spend any more time hiding, not when it took me so long to tell the complete truth.


**A/N: This story is AU. Usually I hate writing these kinds of stories, but the idea just wouldn't get out of my head…**

**So in this story, neither girl is a Cheerio. Brittany isn't popular, because she came out early on in her life, which isolated her from the other students. She and Santana weren't/aren't really friends.**

**A/N 2: Also, I'm not taking a break from my other Brittany/Santana story. I already had this saved on my computer. I should have another chapter of ****A Matter of Miserable Time**** up in a few days.**

From the Closet Walls

"You know I hate doing this." Brittany said, lying on her back on the bed, staring at the ceiling and steadily avoiding the gaze of the girl sitting up next to her.

Santana looked down at her and sighed. "I know Britt, I know. I… I'll tell them, I swear."

Brittany closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "But the thing is San, I don't think you will."

Santana's eyes bulged. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" she asked in a small voice.

Brittany sat up and turned so she was staring directly into Santana's eyes. "San, I love you. You know that I love you. But I can't keep this a secret anymore. I can't keep _us_ a secret. And I don't want to. I want people to know that you're mine. I don't like the looks boys give you in the hallway, the way they stare, the things they say…" Brittany drifted off as her eyes clouded with anger. Santana reached out and grabbed her hand. Brittany squeezed it softly. "I love you Santana, but I can't keep seeing you if you don't tell people about us."

"I get that. I really do. And I'll tell them, I'll tell everyone."

"When?"

"Well… uh, I can't do it today, because my mom has that meeting tomorrow, and I don't want her to get stressed… and you know tomorrow isn't good, again the meeting… and the day after that… no, I really couldn't do it then…"

Brittany smiled sadly at the girl sitting in front of her. She took in Santana's dark brown hair and chocolate eyes, trying to memorize every detail of her. Then, she slowly and softly kissed the other girl, before withdrawing her hand.

Santana looked down at her now empty hand, then up at Brittany, then back down, and back up, panic evident in her eyes. "Britt?" She asked timidly.

Brittany stood up from the bed and looked down at the brunette still sitting there. Brittany's eyes filled with tears, but she refused to let them fall. She told herself she wouldn't cry, but she couldn't stop a few from leaking out. "Bye, San."

"No, Brittany, don't leave me, please." Santana pleaded, standing up and moving in front of her closed door. "I don't want you to leave me. Please." She begged again, trying to stop Brittany.

"You can't tell anyone about us. For all intents and purposes, we never dated. You don't have to worry about your family, or your precious '_reputation'_," Brittany spat the word in disgust, "because no one will ever know that the great Santana Lopez dated Brittany Pierce, dyke extraordinaire."

"Don't call yourself that." Santana said quietly, looking at the ground.

More tears slipped down Brittany's face. "Look San, no one has to know. What we had… it never existed. So don't worry about it, okay? I was just… a fling. Yeah, that's all I was: a fling, an experiment. And hell, I'll take that over never having been with you any day. You can go back to dating boys, and ignoring me in the hallway now."

"I don't want you to leave." She whispered.

"But you don't want me to stay. You're ashamed of who you are. You can't even admit it to yourself."

"Of course I can admit it. How could I date you without admitting it?"

"Then say it."

Santana pretended to be confused. "Say what?"

"You know damn well what. Say you love me."

"I… I really… I really care…"

Brittany closed her eyes tightly as more tears flowed down her face. She shook with the effort of keeping in her sobs. Santana was crying too, silently.

"Isn't it enough that I want to say it?" Santana asked softly.

"No. It's not enough." Brittany brushed past Santana and raced down the steps, out of the house, and into her car. She sped off before Santana could even make it to the window to watch her go one last time.

Santana's mom stuck her head into her room. "Isn't Brittany staying for dinner?"

Santana stared out of her window, tears sliding silently down her face. "No. No, she's not staying."

"Well will she be around later in the week? I really like her, you know."

"I don't think she's coming back." Santana whispered. It was then that Mrs. Lopez noticed that something was wrong.

"Mija? Did you have a fight?"

"Yeah, we had a fight."

"What about?" Mrs. Lopez asked, moving into the room and putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"I was stupid. I messed it up."

"Is this about a boy?"

Santana snorted. "No, it's not about a boy."

It was silent for a few minutes as Santana continued to cry and look out her window. "Did you two break up?" Mrs. Lopez asked, in a nonchalant voice that conveyed no discomfort.

Santana whipped around, all sign of tears gone. "What did you say?" she asked, in a terrified whisper.

"I asked if you broke up. You know I really liked her. I'm sorry to see her go."

"What do you mean, 'broke up'?" Santana asked again, still terrified.

"You know, did your friendship break up?"

Santana snorted again at her mother's word choice, and began to cry in earnest. She didn't know whether it was relief or disappointment. On the one hand, having her mother tell her she knew all along that she was gay would have sucked, but it would have saved a lot of trouble on her side.

"Yeah Mami, we broke up." Santana lied down on her bed, staring at the ceiling, and didn't move for the rest of the night. She didn't go down for dinner, she didn't stand up to turn on her light or change, or say hello to her dad when he came home from work. She just stayed on her bed, looking at the ceiling, and hating herself for what she had done.

~SB~SB~SB~SB~

Brittany slid into her car, turned the keys, and peeled out of the driveway as fast as she could. She knew she shouldn't drive while she was this emotional, but she couldn't stand to stay in that house anymore. Santana was in that house. She was upstairs, probably looking out at her from the window.

Brittany knew how much Santana liked to look out that window. During some of their 'sleepovers', Brittany would wake up in the middle of the night to see Santana looking out that window with a happy little smile on her face. Brittany would stand up, walk up behind her, wrap her arms around her waist, rest her chin on Santana's shoulder, and kiss her cheek. They would stand like that for a while, until they both got too sleepy, in which case they would come back to the bed and fall asleep in each other's arms.

Brittany liked that window. Santana was up in that window, beautiful, sweet, wonderful, stubborn Santana. She was so afraid of what other people would think about her that she didn't want to commit to their relationship.

And you know what? It was fine in the beginning. Brittany knew that Santana was afraid of what people would say, and Brittany was so in love with her that she was willing to deal with the secrecy.

And Brittany had to admit, hiding their relationship kind of made it hotter for a little while. There was this thrill that anyone could walk around the corner at school and see them, lips locked. And hell, she wasn't going to lie, it turned her on to know that Santana's parents could walk into her bedroom at any second and catch them, Santana with her head thrown back, Brittany's fingers inside her.

It was fine for a while. Things were good. But then, Brittany began to realize that Santana wouldn't ever tell anyone about them. She was just too afraid of what people would think about her, too scared of commitment…

Brittany parked the car and hurried into her house, tears streaming freely down her face. She didn't respond when her mother called out to her, or stop to say hello to her little sister, who was sitting in the family room in front of the T.V.

Brittany rushed upstairs to her room and slammed the door, before finally crying herself to sleep.

~SB~SB~SB~SB~

Three days later, Brittany was walking through the halls with Quinn after lunch, laughing and talking.

Quinn had always been nice to her, and Lord knows she didn't have to. Quinn was one of the most popular girls in school. She spent all her time around football players and pretty girls that were far less intelligent then she was. But that's the price to pay for being popular, Brittany realized. A lot of times you gave up being happy for what would make other people like you.

They had become friends early in their middle school years, back when Brittany was still popular. In fact, Quinn was the first person she came out to. Coming out to Quinn gave her the courage to tell everyone else. Of course, after everyone found out she was gay, she went from popular to Loserville in 3 seconds flat.

Quinn never left her side, though. When people teased her, Quinn set them straight. Brittany was intensely thankful for her friend, though she often didn't understand why Quinn didn't just ditch her for other, popular kids.

Quinn often got a lot of crap for hanging out with Brittany, but still, she stuck by her side. Brittany didn't know what she had ever done to deserve such a good friend.

"Hey Britt, I've gotta stop in here for a few minutes. Can you save me a spot in the Cafeteria?"

"Sure. See you in a bit."

Quinn went off into a classroom to talk to Mr. Schuester about a Spanish grade, but Brittany kept walking. She rounded a corner, and there, standing in a secluded alcove, tongues tied, were Santana, _her_ Santana, and Noah Puckerman.

Brittany froze in her tracks.

She was about to turn around and run for her life when one of the kids around the corner shrieked in laughter, and Santana and Puck broke apart. Santana looked around, and when she spotted Brittany, she froze. Their gazes locked, one accusing, one pleading.

"Hey Puckerman," Brittany finally managed to sneer, "I see you've lowered your standards." She could see the hurt flash in Santana's eyes, but she was feeling so very vindictive, and furious at the same time, that she really didn't care.

He sneered back at her. "Like you would know what she's like, dyke."

Brittany didn't cower at the name; she just held her head higher. She desperately wanted to say that she did know what it was like. That she had already had Santana, and that she was done with her, but she couldn't do it. No matter how much she was hurting, especially seeing Santana like this with a boy, she couldn't ruin her life. She still loved her.

Santana mumbled something that Brittany couldn't hear, and so she turned her gaze to the girl who had broken her heart.

"Sorry, what was that?" She asked with as much contempt in her voice as she could shove in there.

Santana straightened her body, looked Brittany right in the eye, and said, "I said, don't call her that."

Brittany's eyebrows moved up infinitesimally in surprise, but no one besides Santana seemed to notice. "Like I need your help, Lopez."

"Hey, I was just standing up for you."

"Yeah, well that's a first, isn't it?" Santana physically recoiled from that, and Brittany felt a slight twinge of guilt, but not enough to replace the hurt that she felt. "So how long as this been going on? Two months, three?" she asked, trying to measure how long Santana had been seeing this guy to keep her popularity up.

Puck swung an arm around her shoulders and put a stupid, cocky look on his face. "Three days ago." He said, smugly.

Brittany's eyes flashed to Santana, who looked truly terrified. Santana could see the fire behind them. "Three days, huh?" she asked, to no one in particular. Brittany's eyes started to water, and she wiped away her tears furiously.

"Are you crying, Pierce?" Puck asked with a sneer and a hint of malice in his voice. "You're actually crying!"

He gave a little nudge to Santana, who panicked, and said the worst possible thing she could have said. "Yeah, what's with the waterworks Pierce? Are you in love with me or something?"

Santana's eyes widened as soon as she realized what she had said. Brittany froze.

She raised her gaze to Santana's, and instead of seeing anger in there, Santana just saw ice. She didn't see any remains of the loving looks she used to get; she just saw anger; cold black, and anger. "Oh don't worry, _Lopez, _I was just looking out for you. I know you're so full of yourself that you think everyone's in love with you, but even _I _have standards. And I'd watch what you let him _stick_ in you. You don't know how many diseases you can get from a bastard like him." Brittany turned around and stomped off, for once no tears in her eyes.

Santana was panicking. She didn't know how she was supposed to fix this. She took one look at the boy whose tongue had been down her throat mere minutes before, and had to fight the urge to vomit. He was horrible. How was she ever interested in him? How could she ever _pretend_ to be interested in him? He was big, and stupid, and smelly, and his hair wasn't long enough to run her fingers through, and he used too much tongue. And she didn't like the rough, thick feel to his skin or muscles. She liked soft, smooth skin. She liked long, blonde hair, blue eyes, and light freckles. She liked eccentric dressers, and most importantly, she did _not_ like the Y-chromosome.

All of this went through Santana's head in three seconds, and she made her decision. "Britt, wait!" She called, slipping out of Puck's grasp and running after her ex-girlfriend. "Brittany, stop!"

She sprinted down the hall, causing a scene and drawing many eyes after her, but none were the right set of eyes. She heard a door bang open and she whipped her head around in time to see Brittany's purple backpack disappear out the door. Santana ran after it.

"Brittany! Wait!" She called, desperately trying to make the girl listen. Brittany steadfastly ignored her.

Finally Santana caught up, out of breath, grabbing Brittany and spinning her around. They were exactly the same height.

"Brittany… I…" She panted, but lost her train of thought. She had forgotten. In three days, she had forgotten all the different emotions that could flash in Brittany's baby blue eyes. How had she forgotten?

"What? You what? What can you possibly have to say for yourself? We broke up three days ago, Santana, and already, on that same day, you went out and found someone else to swap spit with. Have you let him fuck you, too?"

"Shhh." Santana said desperately, looking around to see if there were any people near them. But there weren't.

Brittany laughed cruelly. "Oh yeah, I get it. You don't want people to know about us. You know, I tried to be the adult in this situation. I tried to forget about you, move on, but it's only been three days, for fuck's sake! You've already got a new fuck buddy!"

"I'm not having sex with him!" Santana said, a little loudly. But they were behind the school, and no one was around. "I told you that I've never had sex with anyone else, Brittany."

"Yeah, well you seem to have lied about a lot of things. You told me you're _gay_. What, did you lie about that, too?"

"I didn't lie! I _am_ gay."

"Then what the hell is Noah Puckerman doing choking you with his tongue?"

"He's just… he's a cover."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better about this? He's a _cover_? Does it mean that much to you? Can you really not stand to be in a relationship with me that much, that you have to _pretend_ to be straight?"

"Brittany…"

"No. I can't deal with you right now. First, you let us break up. All you had to do was tell your family that we were together. And then, you go off, the _day we break up, _and get together with someone else. I've been crying for three days straight, and already you've got Puckerman under your twisted spell! I hope he doesn't fall for it, because, take it from me, it is _not_ worth it!"

"I'm not worth it, is that it?"

"No, you _were_ worth it. You used to be worth it. I had no doubt in my mind. But now…" Brittany ran her fingers through her hair, "but now…"

"Brittany… I'm sorry."

"That's not going to work. You can't apologize and expect to fix it. This… this broke my heart, if nothing else did. And you don't have to worry about me being _in love with you_, because I can assure you, I am _not_ in love with you, Santana Lopez. I doubt I'll ever be in love with you again." And in that second, Brittany meant it. Her heart was broken and bleeding and she wanted to cry. She was betrayed, and injured beyond belief, and she was angry. She never wanted to feel like this again.

Brittany walked past Santana, leaving her standing there, staring at the spot where Brittany was seconds before, and wondering how the hell she managed to screw this up for a second time. She was furious with herself, disgusted, ashamed, all kinds of awful things. She made out with someone else. Brittany had seen her. Brittany had looked at her as if she had never seen something more disgusting. She had ruined it. Again.

Santana wanted to scream. She wanted to cry, and yell, and punch something. But she couldn't, and that was probably the worst part of it.

This wasn't like a normal breakup, anyone could see that. No one had even known they were together, and whose fault was that? If she acted inexplicably angry, no one would get it. She'd be labeled crazy, or insecure, or something else that would ruin her reputation. But was it worse than being a dyke?

Santana needed to think, to seriously sit down and think, and try to fix this. Because now she knew, without a doubt, that she wanted Brittany back. She just didn't know how to do it.

~SB~SB~SB~SB~

Brittany didn't have her car. That was the major dilemma here. She didn't have her car with her, so she didn't have any way of getting home. Quinn had driven her to school this morning.

Tears were streaming down Brittany's face, and she knew her makeup must be ruined. She couldn't go back into that school looking like this. And besides, she was too upset to face anyone.

She hid in the parking lot and pulled out her phone, trying to control her breathing as she dialed Quinn's number.

"Please have your phone on…" She muttered into the receiver.

It rang three times before Quinn's voice came on the other end. "Britt? Where are you? I asked you to save me a seat, and you're not here."

Brittany's voice was shaking as she responded. "I'm in the parking lot, Q."

Quinn's voice was suddenly serious. "Why are you crying? Britt, are you okay? Where are you sweetie?"

"I'm next to your car. Can you take me home?"

"I'll be there in two minutes." And with that Quinn hung up.

Brittany slid down next to the car, and let her head fall back against the door. She took a few deep breaths, trying to control her emotions. She was failing spectacularly.

"Britt?" She heard Quinn call from nearby.

"Here…" She choked out, wiping at her eyes.

Quinn fell to her knees next to her friend. "Britt baby, what's wrong? What happened? Who did this to you? I swear I'll kick their ass."

Brittany shook her head. "I can't talk about it here. Can we go home?"

Quinn nodded and helped Brittany into the car before speeding off in the direction of Brittany's house.

"No, not my house." Brittany said quickly. "My mom's home and she can't… she can't see me like this."

"Whatever you want, B." Quinn said softly, changing direction and heading towards her own house.

They pulled into the Fabray's driveway a few minutes later, with no more words exchanged. They didn't speak until they were in Quinn's room, on her bed, with a few used tissues next to Brittany.

Brittany dabbed at her running makeup one more time, finally in control of her tears.

"What happened, B?" Quinn asked seriously.

Brittany shook her head.

"Please tell me. This is weird for you, Britt. Usually you don't let anyone get you down. And these last few months you've been… ecstatic all the time. What's changed these past few days?"

Brittany was silent for a few seconds before she mumbled something.

"What?"

"I'm in love."

Quinn blinked for a few seconds. "But then… why are you crying? Isn't that a good…?"

"It's Santana." Brittany said, cutting Quinn off.

Quinn gaped at her. "Santana? As in Santana Lopez?" Brittany nodded. "But… but you've never even spoken to her before! How can you fall in love with someone you've never spoken to before?"

Brittany snorted. "Believe me, we've spoken _plenty_."

"I don't… I don't think I understand." Quinn said slowly.

Brittany shook her head. "It doesn't matter." She said bitterly.

"Britt…" Quinn said softly, "have you been sleeping with Santana?"

Another sob racked through Brittany's body, so she couldn't answer her friend. She didn't need to.

Brittany fell down face first into Quinn's lap, her body shaking with her tears. Quinn stroked her back, still shell shocked. She whispered soothing noises into her tall friend's ear, trying to relax her.

Finally Brittany stopped shaking, and Quinn felt it was safe to ask a few more questions. After all, she was dying to know.

"How long has this been going on?"

"A few months." Brittany mumbled against Quinn's leg.

"And you… you love her?" Brittany nodded. "Have you told her?"

"Of course I've told her." Brittany snapped. "That's the problem. I _tell_ her things, and she just…"

"Has she been using you?" Quinn asked, furious. "I don't care that she could probably kill me. You tell me if she's used you, Britt, and I'll try my best to kick her ass."

"It's not that, Quinn. I mean, yeah we've been having sex, but… you know, it's not all the time. Sometimes when we get together, we just kiss, or watch a movie, or cuddle… and it feels like a real relationship. But she won't _call_ it a relationship. She won't tell anyone that she's gay. So three days ago, I ended things. I told her that I couldn't do it anymore."

"That's good Britt. That was the right thing to do."

"I thought so too!" Brittany exclaimed, rolling over so that she was still lying in Quinn's lap, but now looking up at her. "I thought that if I really made an effort to avoid her that she'd come to her senses, and tell people about us, because she loves me too. She couldn't ever say it, but I know that she does. Because if she didn't have any feelings for me, if it was really all about sex, then we wouldn't have some nights where we just slept, or watched T.V., would we?"

Quinn didn't know how to answer, but it seemed like Brittany was just thinking out loud.

"I thought that if I wasn't with her, she could admit that she was in love with me. But just now, not even fifteen minutes ago, I saw her with her tongue down Puckerman's throat!"

Quinn was horrified. "_Puckerman_? That guy's the biggest whore in the school!"

"I know! And then she stood there and let him insult me, and then she attacked me. And then, after I left, she had the _audacity_ to chase after me and try to apologize! Fuck! She's driving me crazy!"

"I'm so sorry, B. She's a bitch."

Brittany sighed. "But she's really not. She's just afraid. You remember how I was before I told you. She just doesn't have a kick-ass best friend like I do. If it weren't for you, Q, I probably wouldn't have been brave enough to tell everyone that I'm gay."

Quinn kissed her friend's forehead. "Do you ever regret it?"

Brittany shook her head. "It's hard sometimes, I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes it really sucks having everyone know that you're gay. The girls in the locker room don't let me change in their row."

"I still can't believe they did that."

Brittany shrugged. "It really doesn't bother me that much. I mean, I don't really want to be checking out their fat asses, anyways." Quinn chuckled, but knew that it really did hurt Brittany when the kids at their school called her out because of her sexuality.

"Sometimes the name calling is really bad. No one's ever tried to actually hurt me, but sometimes I do cry. Without you Quinn, I wouldn't make it through some days. But no, I don't regret it. Because I was miserable before, pretending to be something that I'm not. I'm so much better now. I'm so much happier now.

"People can say everything they want to about me, but I know that they're the ones that are wrong, because it isn't wrong for me to be exactly who I am. I know it's not a sin, and it's not a crime, and it's not wrong. I love who I love, and they can all kiss my ass."

"That's the spirit, B."

Brittany half-smiled. "But Santana isn't like that. She doesn't have a best friend that she can share everything with. She doesn't have that kind of support. And the words hurt her more than me. They make her second guess herself. And I love her to death. I love her more than I've ever loved anyone else in this world. But it's just not enough. I can't hide anymore. I can't spend all my time hiding, not when it took me so long to tell the complete truth."

"I get it B, really I do. And I still think it was a good idea for you to end things."

Brittany sighed. "I just hope Santana comes to her sense soon."

Quinn smiled sadly. "I do too."

It was silent for a few seconds. "Wanna watch 'One Tree Hill'?" Brittany asked quietly.

Quinn smiled. "Sure thing B, whatever you want." She reached over and grabbed the remote, switching on the T.V.

A few minutes into the episode, Quinn was running her fingers through Brittany's hair slowly. It was soothing to the taller girl, whose eyes were only half-focused on the T.V.

"Hey Quinn?"

"Yea Britt?"

"You're pretty amazing, you know that?"

Quinn smiled. "It doesn't hurt to remind me every now and again, now does it?"

Brittany chuckled. "Seriously Q, I kind of love you, like all the time."

"I love you too, B."

It was silent for another few seconds. "I'm so glad I'm not attracted to you."

Quinn laughed out loud. "That would definitely make things awkward."

Brittany grinned. "No kidding."

And Quinn was able to work her magic once again. Brittany didn't think about Santana for the rest of the night.

~SB~SB~SB~SB~

The next two weeks passed in a blur for Santana. Every glimpse she had of Brittany just made her feel worse. Every time Brittany saw her, she ran across the hall, or pretended not to have seen her.

Every time she saw Brittany, her heart leapt into her throat.

She couldn't focus on school, on her family, singing, on anything. Every waking hour was spent thinking about Brittany, and how to get her back. And so far, she was coming up with nothing. The girl wouldn't even look at her, let alone talk to her.

Two weeks after the confrontation with Brittany, Santana was sitting in front of the school, eating her lunch with a big group of people. As they were sitting and talking happily, Santana happened to look up and see Brittany walk by, holding hands with someone. Santana's blood froze. Brittany was holding hands with someone_, _a_ girl _someone_. Brittany was holding hands with another girl._

Santana had never felt this angry. Jealousy flared in her chest, and an unbridled fury overtook her.

She knew she should stay sitting, ignore Brittany, and put this out of her mind. But she couldn't do it.

She stood up, and all her food fell off of her lap and onto the ground, but she didn't notice. "Santana, where are you going?" One of her friends, Finn Hudson, called, but Santana couldn't hear. She couldn't see anything except Brittany and this mystery girl.

She marched right over to Brittany, and grabbed her arm, spinning her around. Brittany looked angry and affronted, until she saw who it was, and then her gaze turned cold and expressionless. But Santana didn't consider it. She was still furious.

"What the hell is this?" Santana hissed.

Now Brittany just looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

Santana gestured down to Brittany and the girl's (who she now recognized as Quinn Fabray) interlocking hands. "You've moved on, then?"

Brittany looked at Quinn, who seemed to get the hint. "I'll just be… over there… see you later, Britt." Brittany nodded in recognition, and then turned, furious, back to Santana.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What am _I_ doing? What are _you _doing? Holding hands? Is she your girlfriend?"

"It's none of your business who I date, Santana."

"Like hell it's not!" Santana said, louder this time, drawing some attention to them. Brittany didn't notice.

"You're the one who had their tongue down someone else's throat."

"Look, we already had this fight. I know I was wrong. But Brittany, I don't like it when you hold hands with other girls!"

"And I don't like it when you tongue-fuck boys! We can't always get everything the way we want it, Santana. And besides, what do you care if I hold a girl's hand? I'm a lesbian, remember? I like girls."

"But not her! Come on, what the hell were you thinking?"

Now Brittany was just angry. "I don't owe you a damned thing, Santana!"

"Are you kidding? You're the one that ended our relationship!"

"You ended it!"

"You were the one that left, Brittany."

"All you had to do was tell people. That's it. All you had to do was tell people about us, and I would have stayed."

"Yeah, well I just told the whole fucking school, howsabout that for telling people?"

Brittany glanced around for the first time and saw every eye outside the school watching them, mouths agape.

"So how long have you two been dating?" Santana asked, in a dead tone.

"I'm not dating Quinn." Brittany whispered.

Santana's head snapped up eagerly. "You're not?"

Brittany glared. "For some of us, two weeks still isn't long enough to wait before going back out and prowling the streets."

"I didn't go prowling…"

"You didn't wait." Brittany interrupted.

"Look, I'm sorry about Puck. But I told people. You said that all I had to do to keep seeing you was to tell people about us. And I think I just did. So, what do you say?" Santana asked, looking at Brittany hopefully

Brittany was still skeptical. She looked at Santana doubtfully, and then she looked around at the hundreds of vapid, narcissistic kids who were watching them with rapt attention, half too stoned to know what was happening, another quarter ready to beat the shit out of them, and the other quarter hoping to God that these two beautiful girls would go at it right in the middle of the street.

Brittany looked back at Santana, and Santana could tell she was going to say no. It flashed in Brittany's eye, the apology, the excuses, all of it was right there.

Santana didn't want an apology. She didn't want anything except Brittany back.

Brittany didn't say anything. She just turned around and started to walk away, when Santana shouted her last hope to the Heavens. "I love you!"

Those three little words caused the simultaneous freezing of Brittany's movement and the collective gasp of everyone watching.

Brittany turned around slowly and appraised Santana. She saw the look in the other girl's eyes, and the desperation of her body language, and Brittany knew.

She walked closer to Santana, and whispered, "Really?" She knew it was true, but she needed confirmation.

Santana didn't answer, she just grabbed the back of Brittany's head, twining her fingers through her hair, and brought Brittany's mouth crashing to hers.

Brittany reacted instinctively. Her arms slipped around Santana's waist and she pulled them closer together, and when tongue was added to the mix, neither girl slowed down.

Santana's fingers were running through Brittany's blonde hair, probably mussing it up pretty badly, but she didn't care. Brittany didn't, either.

Brittany pulled them tighter together. They were now standing with their bodies flush against each other, every single bit of them touching.

Finally, when breathing became essential, they withdrew their heads and took a tiny step backwards. Not far enough to break their holds on each other, but just far enough that their upper bodies weren't flush.

Brittany closed her eyes and smiled for the first time in weeks. Santana kissed her on the cheek, and moved her hands down to interlock with Brittany's.

"Wanna go?" Santana asked softly, and Brittany nodded. She really didn't care about school right now.

Santana squeezed Brittany's hand tightly, and then whipped around and broke into a run, pulling Brittany along with her. She quickly gathered her speed, and ran in step with Santana.

They reached Santana's car, slid into it, and Santana peeled out of the parking lot.

It was deathly quiet outside the school in the wake of their reunion. Students were staring at the car, mouths open, unbelieving. Puck was torn between confused, furious, and aroused.

Finally, the spell was broken, when one junior, Sam Evans, said, "My God that was hot." His colleagues nodded in agreement, and went back to eating lunch with a brand new, shiny topic now on the table. For the first time, no hate-words were associated with the word 'lesbian'. They had taken a giant step forwards. Of course, they were still boys, and they had to discuss the topic of hot girls making out… well… they were mostly boys.

"How long do you think Santana's been a lesbian?"

"I don't know, dude, but they sure seemed like they _know_ each other… if you know what I mean." Sam grinned, and Finn grinned back; they high-fived each other.

In another circle, a far more direct question was being asked. "You think they've ever had sex?" Wheel-chair bound Artie Abrams asked as he worked on his math homework, trying desperately not to appear interested in the answer.

His friend looked up from his laptop and off to the place where the girls had been standing, with a contemplating expression on his face. "Oh totally." They nodded at each other and went back to what they were doing, each secretly storing the image away for future… use…

Santana stopped the car in front of her house, and leaned over to kiss Brittany sweetly.

They stayed that way for a while, until Santana finally pulled away. "You wanna go inside?"

"Aren't your parents here?"

"Not for another hour, and even then, I want you here."

Brittany smiled and nodded.

They got out of the car, but Santana didn't move until Brittany was around on her side and holding her hand.

~SB~SB~SB~SB~

Up in Santana's room, the girls were resuming their reunion, in a more horizontal position. But to be fair, the most compromising thing that they were doing (besides kissing) was Santana's hand on Brittany's waist, moving in circles.

They broke apart, breathing heavily. "I missed this." Santana whispered.

"Oh God, so did I."

"What the hell was I thinking?"

"No. Please San, can we not talk about this right now? Leave the discussions for discussing later. Right now, I just want to make up for the weeks we've been apart and _not_ kissing."

Who was Santana to argue? Brittany set herself down on the bed so she was completely horizontal except for her slightly elevated head. Santana slid her knee between Brittany's, put her arm around the girl's waist, and kissed her. And the beauty of it was that all they did was kiss. They could have gone further, and Lord knows they had done it before, but they were making-up. They didn't want to go farther.

So involved were they in their making-up that they didn't hear the front door open. They didn't hear anyone call out Santana's name, nor footsteps on the stairs. Brittany had her hand buried in Santana's hair, and Santana's hands were drawing circles both on her girlfriend's toned stomach and soft back.

And so, needless to say, Mr. Lopez got quite a shock when he opened up his daughter's bedroom door and found her horizontal, on top of another girl. The situation could not be disguised as anything other than what it was, because there were very obvious tongue-movements, and a distinct pattern to the roaming hands.

Later on, Santana would look back on this moment and realize that her father reacted very well, all things considered; although, at the moment, it didn't seem that way. Had Santana given any thought to it, she would not have expected her father to smile and back out of the room quietly. But Santana _hadn't_ given any thought to it, because she had honestly never considered ever being in this position.

So when the two were interrupted by a shriek, and, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" neither girl was focused on how well Mr. Lopez was reacting.

Santana jumped off of Brittany so fast that she might have been shoved off. Actually, that probably wasn't far off. Santana flew off of Brittany so fast that she tripped over herself and landed flat on her back on the floor. "Ohhhh. Ow." She moaned, rolling a little onto her side.

Brittany was sitting up on the bed, stunned, and more than a little bit terrified. She was looking, horrified, at Mr. Lopez. Most parents do not come home to their teenage daughters kissing their girlfriends in the middle of the day, especially when said parent has no idea that said daughter is gay.

Santana sat up once she fully realized that her father was standing in the doorway. Mr. Lopez was looking down at his daughter, mouth open, face frozen in shock and astonishment. '_Well,'_ Santana thought, '_at least he didn't already know I was gay_.'

"Papi," She started, "this isn't… well, no, I suppose this is exactly what it looks like."

She stayed on the floor. It would not be a stretch to say that she was frozen in fear, but more accurately, she was worried that if she made any sudden movements, her father might explode, or have a seizure, or start hitting something. So she stayed on the floor.

Brittany desperately wanted to get off the bed. She thought that this bed represented something less-than-holy, and true, they hadn't been exactly _virtuous_ on this bed before, but it was one thing to do those kinds of things, and quite another to have your closeted girlfriend's father _think_ that you were doing those kinds of things. So Brittany was, in fact, frozen in fear.

Santana stood up slowly, and Brittany did the same, judging that it was safe. They stayed on opposite sides of the bed, subconsciously thinking that Mr. Lopez could only attack one of them at a time.

"Kitchen." Was all Mr. Lopez said before he turned around and walked down the stairs. Brittany and Santana stood still, watching him go, before looking at each other.

"We should probably head downstairs…" Santana said. Brittany nodded. They walked to the top of the stairs together.

"I just want you to know," Santana said, reaching her hand over to grasp Brittany's, "that I really do love you, no matter what happens."

"No matter what," Brittany said, "I love you too. But then again, you already knew that."

They broke their interlocking grip and walked down the stairs, much like a convict would walk if he knew he was headed to his execution.

They got into the kitchen and saw Mr. Lopez at the table, holding an opened beer in his hand. He took a gulp when he saw the two of them. "Do either of you two want one?" He asked, gesturing to the bottle in his hand.

Santana exchanged a worried look with Brittany. "Uh… no thanks Papi, I think we're okay." Mr. Lopez shrugged, and gestured at the seats across from him. Brittany and Santana sat down, and no one spoke for a few minutes.

"So…" Mr. Lopez started.

"So…" Santana repeated.

"You're gay now?" Mr. Lopez asked.

Santana grabbed Brittany's hand under the table and squeezed tightly. "Yes."

Mr. Lopez nodded slowly. "Cool." He said.

Santana stared at her father. "Cool?"

"Yup. Cool."

"You have no idea how to handle this situation, do you?"

"None whatsoever. I've never done something like this before."

"And you think I have?" Santana asked, a little exasperated and a little angry.

"You have, haven't you Brittany, honey?" Mr. Lopez asked.

Brittany looked surprised. She hadn't been expecting a direct question. She was prepared to be spoken about, and yelled about, but not _to_. "Uhh, yeah, with my parents."

"And how did that go?" Mr. Lopez asked, completely interested.

"Well…" Brittany thought for a minute, trying to think of how to put it delicately. "Mom cried… Dad thought I was playing an elaborate joke on him… they both drank quite a bit… but I think it was pretty normal, as far as these things go."

Mr. Lopez nodded along the whole time. "I wish your mother was here for this." He said to his daughter.

"We'll have to tell her anyways." Santana agreed.

"So…" He said again. The awkwardness was palpable.

"Do you want to wait until she's here to talk about this?" Santana asked.

Mr. Lopez breathed a sigh of relief. "Dios please. I'm dying here."

She stood up and took Brittany's hand. "We'll be in my room."

"Right… uh, right. Santana." He said as the two scurried from the room. She stuck her head back in. "Door open." He said seriously.

She nodded, said, "Si Papi." and proceeded to run as fast as she could up the stairs to her room.

~SB~SB~SB~SB~

Brittany and Santana were sitting on Santana's bed, a safe distance apart, not talking. They simply didn't know what to say. Should they address the situation downstairs, or let it slide? Brittany decided to address it.

"So that was… weird…"

Santana nodded slowly, eyes wide. "Really weird. Was it that weird for you?"

"No. I mean, for me it was awkward, and uncomfortable, but less 'I-don't-know-what-to-say' and more 'I'm-upset-that-you'll-never-have-kids'."

"I'm worried about what my mom's gonna say."

"She'll support you, right? I mean, your mom doesn't hate me, does she?"

"Well, she didn't before…"

"What does that mean?"

"You know how with boys, parents are always like, 'Oh he's such a nice young man'. Until they find out you're boning him, and then he's Satan's spawn."

"Not for the first time in my life, I am completely grateful that I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Come on, you never dated a boy?'

"I thought we established that I was a lesbian."

Santana laughed. "That's not what I was talking about."

"I can't believe we've never had this conversation before."

Santana shrugged. "Well I guess I'm trying to be a better girlfriend. So level with me, you've never had a boyfriend?"

"Well… maybe one… but it didn't end well."

"Ohhh, dish. What's his name? Does he go to our school?"

"Why do you want to know about this so badly? I mean, you're not going to go all jealous on me, are you?"

Santana laughed again. "Not even a little. So tell me, name? Age?"

"Freshman year, for three months."

"I thought you came out in freshman year?"

"Yeah… that's what I meant when I said it didn't end well."

"What… Oh, that. Ouch."

Brittany shrugged. "I knew I was gay before we got into our relationship, but I was trying to hold off telling people. Finally, he got a little suspicious when I didn't want to make out with him."

"I'm telling you, the trick is to pretend it's a really butch girl… who's less adept with her tongue…"

Brittany chuckled. "Yeah, well when I broke up with him, he demanded a reason. So I told him. He wasn't happy about that."

"Come on! Tell me who it was."

Brittany sighed. "I'm not proud…"

"For God's sake, woman!"

"Alright! It was… Puckerman."

"You mean…?"

"Yeah. That was a double hurt."

It was silent for a few seconds. "Christ Brittany, I'm so sorry. I didn't… you know I didn't know…"

Brittany shrugged again. "I know San. I'm not gonna lie to you, it hurt like a son of a bitch to see you two like that, but it's over. And you're mine now, right?"

Santana leaned over and kissed her softly. "That's right. I'm all yours."

Brittany took a deep breath, before smiling, and asking, "First girl-crush?"

"Alyson Hannigan."

"What? The girl from 'How I Met Your Mother'?"

"Actually, I was crushing on her from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', but yeah." Brittany laughed. "Hey, so I'm a nerd. But you can't deny that that girl is hot."

"I wasn't arguing."

"So how about you?"

"I don't know. I guess a little Emma Stone, Mila Kunis… Ally Sheedy from 'The Breakfast Club'…"

"You're kidding."

"Nope. But when she still had her hair covering her face, and the goth-ish clothes. I don't know why, but that's always done it for me."

"I thought I did it for you."

Brittany kissed her, before answering, "Yes, but deep down, I was always picturing Mila Kunis."

"You're horrible." Brittany laughed, and Santana grinned with her. "First girl-kiss?"

"Nuh-uh. You first."

"Fine." Santana thought for a moment. "Lisa Hinley, 10th grade."

"You're kidding. Lisa Hinley was your first girl-kiss?"

Santana shrugged. "She was there, she was willing, and it was a dare."

"And that's when you first knew that you liked girls?"

"No. I didn't really know it until I saw you wear that pink skirt to school."

Brittany looked at her, aghast. "My pink skirt? What's wrong with it? Is it slutty?"

"No, it's not slutty, just _really_ hot. Anyways, that's when I first had an idea. It took me a little while to realize, though."

"Well, you're welcome."

"I'm sorry, what am I thanking you for?"

"For helping you realize that girls are really the way to go."

Santana chuckled. "In that case, thank you." Santana kissed her slowly.

Brittany pulled away. "The pink skirt really does it for you, doesn't it?"

Santana groaned. "God you have no idea. Every time you wear it I actually have to stop myself from jumping you."

"You know I wouldn't mind."

"Yes, but until this afternoon, I was _very_ much in the closet, wasn't I?"

"True that."

"Alright, your turn. First girl kiss?"

"Mary Williams, 8th grade."

"You landed Mary Williams in 8th grade? I thought she was straight. Isn't she dating Jeff Grossman?"

"Oh yes she is." Brittany grinned evilly. "I think she's still trying to deny that she's gay. She kind of grabbed me behind the middle school one day. It was… scary…"

"Still though… she's hot."

"Do I need to be worried about you and Mary Williams?"

Santana laughed and kissed Brittany. "Not at all. Actually, I'm a little bit proud. My girlfriend made out with Mary Williams." She grinned hugely.

"I am not going to lie… this is a strange thing to be happy about."

"I'm proud. You're beautiful, and you're all mine. But you best not be headed back to Mary Williams any time soon."

"Oh don't worry. How about you? Do I need to worry about Lisa Hinley?"

Santana made a face. "God, I can't believe I ever had her tongue in my mouth."

Brittany laughed again. "So I guess that's all we need to know about each other, right?"

Santana shrugged. "I guess so." Brittany was looking off into space thoughtfully. "What is it?"

"I need to wear my pink skirt more often."

Santana groaned again. "Oh yes please."

"You remember how we started dating?"

Santana smiled. "How could I forget?"

"Just think, if we hadn't been assigned as partners in History, and if you didn't walk into my room when I was changing… none of this would have happened."

Santana laughed. "I had such a big crush on you."

Brittany looked incredulous. "Are you kidding? I'm surprised you even _noticed_ me."

Santana kissed her. "You're beautiful. How could I _not_ have noticed you?"

Brittany smiled. "I thought you were the biggest perv ever. I mean, there I was, shirt off, jeans unbuckled, and you just stood in the doorway staring at me."

Santana blushed. "What can I say? You're hot, and what was I supposed to do when my crush was suddenly in front of me and half naked?"

"You know I actually suspected you were lesbian."

Santana gasped and pretended to be offended. "And I thought I had been hiding it so well."

Brittany snorted. "Though I never pictured you'd be interested in me."

"How could I not be interested in you? Though, I will admit, I never pictured asking you out while you were shirtless but… I couldn't exactly resist."

Brittany laughed. "I'm glad you did. I have no idea what I was expecting when I agreed to get coffee with you, but it sure wasn't that."

"You were expecting it to go badly?"

"Are you kidding? I was totally expecting it to be a train wreck."

"Why?"

Brittany shot her a look. "Santana, you're popular. You're gorgeous, you have lots of friends, everyone loves you, and you were very much in the closet. I didn't know we had anything in common."

Santana thought for a second. "I guess that's fair. But still, I was really nervous. I wanted it to go well."

"It did go well. Can I ask, though, what did you see in me? How did I even register on your radar?"

"I told you… it was the pink skirt."

"Santana, seriously."

Santana sighed, and shrugged. "I don't know, Brittany. Remember Chemistry, 10th grade?"

"Was this pre or post Lisa Hinley?" Now it was Santana's turn to shoot Brittany a dirty look. "Sorry. Yea, I remember it. Mr. Weston, 5th period."

"Well, you remember where I sat in that class?"

Brittany thought for a second. "Uhh… you weren't in any of the seats in front of me, I know that…"

Santana nodded. "I was right behind you. Every time you reached your hand up to brush your fingers through your hair I smelled your shampoo. It smelled like lemon. I remember thinking it was particularly interesting because of your blonde hair. Anyways, that became the best part of my day, smelling your lemon shampoo. On days that it wasn't raining, the sun broke through the window at just the right angle to hit your hair and make it look like it was made out of diamonds. That's actually the first thing I noticed about you: your hair. I'm not gonna lie, I got a little obsessed with it. It freaked me out, feeling those kinds of things.

"Well, the next semester you were in my Math class. When you walked into that class my heart jumped into my throat. I won't ever forget that feeling. I used to make a game out of guessing what color your jeans and tee shirt would be, and if I got it right, then I would talk to you that day."

Brittany was a little speechless. "That's… wow…"

Santana blushed. "I know, it's dorky, and a little creepy, but… it's what I did. And I'm not done. The next year, we had the same History class, and we were next to each other. I could ask you for a pencil about once a week, and then you'd hand it to me, and I'd say thanks, and you'd smile, and my heart would lurch… it was amazing. It was like a drug to me. And then we were partners, and I couldn't help but think that this was my chance to get you to like me. Not necessarily '_like'_ like me, but like me as a friend.

"I was intimidated. You were so confident. I mean, you were out, and you still smiled, and held your head high, and I couldn't help but think, 'God, I wish that was me'. You didn't care what people thought. You went about your business, and you smiled, and joked, and you got good grades, and you did it all while looking incredibly hot…"

Brittany stared at the girl sitting on the bed in front of her. Santana blushed. "I've been in love with you for a long time, Brittany. I just couldn't say it."

"I love you Santana, you know that I do. This just made me fall even more in love with you." They kissed.

Santana heard the front door open. "I'm home!" Mrs. Lopez called from downstairs. Brittany felt Santana tense against her. They broke apart slowly. Santana took a deep, shaky breath.

Brittany grabbed her hand and gripped it tightly. "I've got you, San. No matter what, I've got you. And look, we already got your dad done with."

Santana groaned. "But now we have to do it all over again…" Santana could hear mumbling from downstairs. She heard her dad laugh nervously, and then say, "Santana has something to tell us. Santana honey, can you come downstairs please?" He called up to them.

Santana gulped, gripped Brittany's hand tightly in hers, and then walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Her mom was smiling happily and digging through the refrigerator.

"Mami…?" Santana asked tentatively.

Mrs. Lopez turned around, and upon seeing Brittany, smiled hugely. "Oh good; I see you two made up then?"

Mr. Lopez blinked at his wife. "You knew about this?"

She shrugged. "Of course I did, and I have to say, I was very upset when I heard."

"That's right Dad," Santana cut in quickly, "Mami already knew about the '_big_ _fight'_ Brittany and I had." She said, shooting him a warning look.

He nodded in understanding and didn't say anything else.

"Uh, Mami, maybe you should sit down. I have something to tell you. Something important, big, and good, I think… I mean, I think it's good, but I don't know how you'll…" Brittany nudged her with her elbow, and Santana quickly cleared her throat as her mother slid a chair out from under the table and perched on it, a look of mild-curiosity on her face.

"So what did you want to tell me?" Mrs. Lopez asked.

Santana took a deep, calming breath, and reached over and grabbed Brittany's hand, a movement that did not go unnoticed by either Mr. Lopez or his wife.

"I'm telling you that I'm… that I'm a lesbian, Mami. Brittany is my girlfriend."

There was a stunned silence for a few seconds while everyone looked at Mrs. Lopez. She blinked a few times and looked like she was grappling with something completely perplexing. "You're… gay?" She asked, confused. Santana nodded. "But… but…" she blinked a few more times, rubbed her eyes, and sighed. "Well at least we don't have to worry about you getting pregnant."

There was a heavy pause, before Brittany finally burst out laughing. Santana and her father weren't far behind, and soon all four people in the room were rolling on the floor, laughing to relieve the tension.

When they all regained their breath, Mr. and Mrs. Lopez were sitting in their chairs, wiping tears out of their eyes. Brittany was also in a seat, perched on Santana's lap. It felt good to be open like this in public.

"Well," Mrs. Lopez finally said, "I'm happy for the two of you, really I am. But I hope you know this will mean that we'll have to be stricter on the rules, like allowing you two home by yourselves."

Santana blushed and groaned. "Mami, please…"

"I don't want to know _anything_ Santana, that's your private business. But I'm still a parent, and I'm still allowed to worry about these things." Brittany hid her face.

Mr. Lopez cleared his throat. "I think I agree with your mother on this, Santana. After this afternoon…"

"What happened this afternoon?" Both girls blushed.

"_Nothing._" Santana said firmly.

"They were in a…compromising position…"

"For Christ's sake, we were completely dressed! We were just kissing!"

"There's nothing wrong with them kissing, Mario." Mrs. Lopez assured. "But please try to keep it to just kissing." She pleaded with her daughter.

Brittany coughed roughly, trying not to laugh. "Yes Mami." Santana said softly.

"Do your parents know, Brittany honey?" Mrs. Lopez asked sweetly.

"Uh… they know about me being gay, but they don't know about us, no."

"Are you going to tell them?"

Brittany made eye contact with Santana swiftly, before turning her attention back to her girlfriend's mother. "Uh… yeah, but not today. I think Santana's done enough coming out for one day."

Mrs. Lopez nodded in understanding. "Well, don't leave it too long."

"She'll tell them as soon as she's ready, Mami." Santana said defensively.

"Of course. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed…"

"It's fine, Mrs. Lopez, really. Don't worry about it."

It was quiet for a few minutes. "Well, I'm not going to say that I'm not a little shocked by this." Mr. Lopez said, clearing his throat. "I think the uh, kissing, really made it clear to me. This is… this is going to be an adjustment, Santana."

"It shouldn't be. I'm the same person that I was before, just… more open."

He nodded. "But it's hard to rewrite the ideas, you know? Like, I always thought I had my daughter's life perfectly planned. School, friends, soccer, music, and then college, a boyfriend, marriage, grandkids I could play with…"

Brittany looked at the ground, twisting her hands in her lap, too ashamed to look at her girlfriend's parents. Santana's throat was tight when she said, "I can still have all of those things, Papi. Well… not the boyfriend part… but everything else can be the same. Just because I'm a lesbian, it doesn't mean I'm going to skip out on everything else that I want in life."

"I know that, little one, I really do. But it's just not fair, you know? It's not fair that my daughter doesn't get to have the normal life that every other little girl gets."

Brittany cleared her throat and stood up from the table. "I think I should just go…"

"Oh no! Brittany honey, no, that wasn't what I meant at all. Please, sit down, and let me explain myself." Brittany sat back down slowly in a seat adjacent to her girlfriend's, and Santana took her hand, twining their fingers together.

"What I meant Santana, Brittany, is that it's not fair that you two don't get all of those things. It's not fair that my daughter is forever going to be the outsider. And yes, in a lot of places the two of you will be completely accepted. But there are people out there, little one, that don't look so kindly on this type of lifestyle.

"And it's not fair, because you're both wonderful, beautiful girls, and it's not fair that you'll have people whispering behind your back, judging you for the rest of your lives. It's not fair that you don't get to just be normal, beautiful girls in love." Santana had tears in her eyes as she looked at her dad. He cleared his throat awkwardly, and said, "Well… that's just what I think. I've never been good with words."

Santana stood up and hugged him tightly. "Thank you Papi. That was… that was perfect." She kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, Mr. Lopez." Brittany said quietly. "That really means a lot."

Santana's dad stood up and gestured the blonde over. Brittany approached him warily, but she needn't have worried. As soon as Brittany was within arm's reach, Mr. Lopez pulled her in to a tight hug.

Brittany put her face to his chest and slowly wrapped her arms around him, relaxing in to the unexpected embrace. She smiled softly.

When they broke apart, Mr. Lopez said quietly, "This doesn't change anything about us, Brittany honey. I wanted you to know that. We're very happy for you."

"Thanks." She whispered, before moving away and once again linking fingers with Santana.

Mr. Lopez smiled. "Now get out of here, you two. Go out, set the world on fire. But be back in time for dinner."

They nodded before leaving the house quietly.

Santana took Brittany's hand in hers and held on tightly. "I like that they weren't mad at us for skipping out on the last two periods of school."

Brittany chuckled. "I like that they didn't even notice."

Santana led Brittany down the street, swinging their intertwined hands between their bodies steadily.

"That went really well, Santana. I mean, at the beginning it was pretty mortifying, and I can't help but thank God that your Dad walked in on us _then_, and not like, three weeks ago… But still. They're fine with it, Santana. They're completely cool with us being an 'us'."

Santana nodded, smiling. "I don't know why I was so afraid. It's so much better now that they know. It's just… it's amazing knowing that I don't have to watch what I say around them. But I swear, if they start talking to me about attractive girls they see in the grocery store, I'm going to lose it."

Brittany laughed, but got somber quickly.

"What's up, Britt?"

"What happens tomorrow?"

"What do you mean?"

Brittany played with a few of the fingers on Santana's hand. "I mean… like, what happens tomorrow at school? Do we have to watch how we act? I mean, almost everyone saw us kiss, but what if they make fun of us? Are you going to run away again?"

Santana looked deeply into Brittany's clear blue eyes, and pulled her into a soft but deep kiss.

About halfway through the kiss, Brittany realized that they were in public. There were people driving by, and kids in the park across the street, and other people walking next to them, around them, and Santana was kissing her in front of all of them.

They pulled away after a few seconds, and Santana didn't look around to see if anyone was watching them or gaping at them, or pointing and jeering. She kept looking directly at Brittany.

"Tomorrow at school, I'm going to walk in there holding the hand of the girl I love, and fuck what anyone else says. Because I love you Brittany, and I'm going to love you and be with you for as long as you'll have me."

Brittany kissed her deeply. "How long are you willing to have me?" She asked as she pulled away.

"Forever, Brittany. Forever."

**END.**

~SB~SB~SB~SB~

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, and I make no money off of these stories.**


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